Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
Yesterday we spent some time at a sheep pen, considering God’s perspective on how people are so much like sheep! God spoke through Isaiah 53:6 to remind us that “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way…”
We’ve done it as children and teenagers rebelling against our parents, and we’ve done it as adults resisting the right we know we should live and too often choosing the risky wrong path. We also yesterday listened to Jesus explain some of the relationship between a responsible, conscientious shepherd and the sheep who trust their shepherd and follow his voice.
Today, let’s return, like wise sheep, to see what more we could learn in this picture. Isaiah continued recording the message he was receiving from God: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.” (Is. 53:7)
Who was God describing 2700 years ago as He gave Isaiah this message? Of course, we understand all of Isaiah 53 is a remarkably detailed, graphic portrayal of Jesus the Messiah, and His suffering and execution by crucifixion at the hands of both Jewish religious leaders and Gentile Roman officials and executioners. I state it that way to assure us that all humanity was complicit in the rejection, humiliation and crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever watched the slaughter of animals in the meat packing process, whether it’s cattle or hogs or sheep or even chickens? There’s one big difference that sets sheep apart from all other animals in the slaughter process… the silence and calm of sheep approaching the moment of death, especially if it’s possible for the voice of their shepherd to be heard by the sheep.
The brutality poured out on Jesus in the last 18 hours or so before finally He breathed His last on that cross, is almost indescribable by words or animation or acting or even song or poem. But have you considered that as God incarnate, Jesus KNEW everything that would be done to Him, every excruciating pain He would feel, long before it happened!?
Probably you’ve had an appointment you dreaded for hours, maybe days. Perhaps a dentist for a root canal or a doctor for a procedure you were confident would be very painful. Remember the anxiety you felt prior to the actual experience? That was Jesus’ agony experience in the days and hours prior to His horrific crucifixion day!
WHY did God want Isaiah to give us such a graphic picture of Jesus’ silence in the horrific brutality of His last hours of life? Because in those brutal hours Jesus was God and He had within Himself the very same miraculous power which healed lame people or blind people. The same power which cast demons out of people or even raised dead people to life, yet Jesus REFUSED to use any of that power against those who brutalized Him! And Jesus, of course, could easily have verbally defended Himself, silencing His accusers with His superior wisdom, His truth, but He remained silent. WHY? Why did Jesus not defend Himself? Why did Jesus not retaliate and harm or even kill those brutalizing Him?
Because of God’s outrageous, unlimited love for the human race and Jesus’ clear understanding that the ONLY way God could offer forgiveness, redemption and eternal life to sinful, rebellious humanity was if sinless Jesus, God the Son, would pay our FULL sin death price with His own, agonizing, atonement death! (John 3:16)
It’s also Paul who declared it this way: “…at just the right time, when we were still powerless in our sin bondage, Jesus Christ died for the ungodly...God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us!” (Romans 5:6,8) But friends it’s important we understand God didn’t just allow the horrific suffering of Jesus, God DID it! God poured out His Justic wrath on your rebellious, wicked sin and mine, which Jesus was soaking in on the cross!!
God further explained this shocking reality to Isaiah with these words: “It was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, He will SEE His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After He has suffered, He will SEE the light of life and be satisfied…” (Is. 53:10)
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we discussed in great detail the WHY and HOW God ‘crushed‘ Jesus and caused Him to suffer such beyond imagination agony in His crucifixion. Today please focus on the word “SEE” used twice by God in this verse.
“SEE” is a clear declaration by God the Father that the crucifixion of God the Son is NOT the end, but rather the beginning! The beginning of what? Of HOPE for humanity! WHY? Because Jesus would be raised to life again, by His Father God! On that Easter Sunday morning God restored life to Jesus’ dead body, and we have multiple accounts in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20 & 21 that the resurrected Jesus SAW, with His resurrected eyes, as He was reunited with His disciples, His earthly mother and others who loved and knew Him. Also, resurrected Jesus SAW both Jews and Gentiles who would finally believe on Him and receive eternal life salvation; and that reality would give Jesus the greatest satisfaction that His horrible crucifixion was worth it all!
That’s what God meant by saying to Isaiah “He will SEE His offspring…” (Is. 53:10) God was declaring that resurrected Jesus Christ would SEE those who had and would believe on Him and receive God’s forgiveness for their sins and be ‘born again’ to eternal life.
And God was declaring that when resurrected Jesus would 40 days after His resurrection ASCEND back to heaven Jesus would SEE all those who had died in all history past, having trusted God for His righteousness applied to them like Abraham. (Romans 4:18-25) And more than that, resurrected, ascended, reigning Jesus would SEE billions of people who, through the centuries since His crucifixion, would trust Jesus for their salvation and then when they died would experience their souls & spirits going immediately into the presence of Jesus in heaven! Those are all “His offspring” experiencing eternal life with God, PURCHASED by the atonement death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ!!
Oh, my friends, I sure hope you are confident that YOU are among those who will SEE Jesus in heaven for all eternity because you’ve trusted Jesus to be your Savior from your sinful rebellion against God! We need to pause and thank Jesus for HIS accomplishment of Isaiah 53! What words will you use? Here’s a worship song to help us, my friends. . .
Today’s Scripture: Is. 53:6-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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